Description
EU Advocacy Officer
Contract: Permanent, Full time, 38 hours per week
Location: Brussels, Belgium
Salary: €43,000 – €46,000 gross annually, depending on experience with excellent benefits
About WaterAid:
Want to use your skills in EU Advocacy to play a vital role in making clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene normal for everyone everywhere?
We need passionate, creative and dedicated people. In return, you will be encouraged and empowered to be yourself at your very best. Together, we will make a bigger difference.
Join WaterAid as EU Advocacy Officer to change normal for millions of people so they can unlock their potential, break free from poverty and change their lives for good.
About the Team:
The WaterAid International Affairs team plays a leadership role across the WaterAid Federation to drive the design and delivery of WaterAid’s major influencing with key donors, international and multilateral institutions to achieve SDG 6. The team’s purpose is to convince influential political decisionmakers to prioritise water, sanitation and hygiene in their policy and funding agendas, to increase WASH financing towards SDG6.
About the Role:
As our politically informed and creative EU Advocacy Officer, you will support WaterAid’s political advocacy to the European institutions and bodies.
You will deliver high quality briefings, events, and research to help advance progress on life-changing universal WASH access, adapted to the different EU institutions and stakeholders. You will monitor legislative, funding and political developments related to water and WASH, financing of the sector in the upcoming MFF, to WASH’s cross-sectoral impact, particularly in the areas of climate and health.
You’ll also:
- Support and work with the EU Representative to build and maintain relationships across the European institutions and bodies.
- Identify opportunities to engage EU governmental stakeholders on increasing support towards SDG6, connecting across EU institutions.
- Lead engagement on behalf of WaterAid in a range of networks and coalitions, in particular in the area of health, gender and climate.
- Support the delivery of high-quality events for policy and political audiences.
- Lead daily monitoring of relevant EU political and development sector wide activities, keeping the team informed of relevant developments and engagement opportunities.
- Support the drafting of political briefings on key policy areas on WASH and water resilience, women’s health and climate change.
Requirements
To be successful, you’ll need:
- Bachelor’s degree in European affairs, development, economics, international relations or a related field, or relevant work experience.
- At least 1-2 years working in the EU advocacy and policy space, ideally working at/engaging with EU institutions (counting internships). Experience working at and/or with the European Commission, European Parliament, European Investment Bank or the EU water sector particularly desirable.
- Excellent research, writing, and analytical skills with the ability to synthesise complex policy documents and translate these for a wider audience.
- Experience of managing events desirable.
- Excellent organisational skills and the ability to multitask, manage workload independently and work to sometimes changing deadlines.
- Fluency in English; other European languages desirable.
View the full job description here
Closing date: Applications will close at 12:00 on 26th February 2025.
How to Apply: Click ‘Apply’ to complete the pre-screening questions and upload your CV.
Can I use Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology in my application? At WaterAid, we advise against using AI technology at any stage of the recruitment process. Our goal is to ensure a fair and transparent process that provides every applicant with an equal opportunity to succeed. We value hearing about your unique experiences and perspectives in your application, and, if shortlisted, during the interview as well.
Pre-employment screening: To apply for this post, you must be able to demonstrate your eligibility to work in the respective country. All pre-employment checks will be carried out according to the applicable laws in the respective country.
Benefits
As an organisation WaterAid is committed to creating an environment where you can thrive and be yourself at your very best. So, in addition to our inspiring global mission and engaging work environment, we have a generous benefit package to help you take care of your health, happiness and wellbeing.
Our People Promise
We will work with passion and focus to ensure safe and sustainable water, toilets and hygiene are available to everyone, everywhere. WaterAid is a place of purpose – where people have a real commitment and shared responsibility for the impact we have. We are a global community with diverse backgrounds and perspectives, motivated by inspiring, stimulating work. We are determined to put the wellbeing of our people first, to be a place where people feel safe and able to contribute their voice and truly live our values.
Equal opportunities
We are an equal opportunity, disability-confident employer and are dedicated to achieving the highest standards of diversity, equity and inclusion. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, beliefs, customs, traditions and ways of life. This includes, but is not limited to, race, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion, national or social origin, health status, and economic or social situation.
Safeguarding
We are also committed to protecting everyone we come into contact with. We have a zero tolerance approach to abuse of power, privilege or trust across our global work, and any form of inappropriate behaviour, discrimination, abuse, bullying, harassment, or exploitation. Safeguarding the people and communities we work with, our staff, volunteers and anyone working on our behalf is our top priority, and we take our responsibilities extremely seriously. All offers of employment are subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks (which can include counterterrorism, safeguarding and criminal records checks).
